Citing the US as a culprit in the quagmire, a significant amount of responsibility is placed on the actions of the Pakistani intelligence services. Controlled by religious ideologues, the Pakistani intelligence services operated nearly autonomously from other Pakistani government branches, and often in opposition to stated policy. [cont…]
Archives for April 2012
Short Book Review: “Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America, and International Terrorism” by John K. Cooley
April 5, 2012 by
Book Review: “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine” by Michael Lewis
April 4, 2012 by
Michael Lewis can tell a story like no other. In fact, even before I finished reading his “The Big Short,” I wanted to work the book into every conversation I had. The story was that interesting and compelling. Anyone who can take the financial crisis of the last few years, find a story in it that centers around subprime mortgages and shorting the market (if you understand what that means and how to do it, you’re more than a step ahead of me and about anyone else I’ve mentioned it to over the last couple weeks), and then make it interesting to the lay reader deserves to be read. [cont…]
Romney’s Mormonism or Romney’s Religiousness?
April 4, 2012 by
If you’ve been paying attention even the slightest, you probably know that Mitt Romney is Mormon. On the other hand, you’d be hard pressed to remember if you had heard him talk about it much, if at all, even if you were a close watcher of the GOP race for the nomination.
Why is that?
In 1960, John Kennedy and Richard Nixon competed for the White House. In something of a “flash of lightning which illuminated, but only momentarily, a darkened landscape,” as Robert Putnam says his book “American Grace,” we caught a look at how Americans view religion, especially as it relates to who we select for for our President. [cont…]
Book Review: “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created” by Charles C. Mann
April 3, 2012 by
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” But what happened next?
More than just the discovery of the new world that we call the Americas, Christopher Columbus set off globalization of ecology, trade, biology, and nationality beyond anything that preceded it, argues Charles Mann in “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created.” The discovery of America did more than just uncover lands previously unseen or mapped by Europeans. It set adrift the then current order of the entire world. [cont…]
Do you know your local elected officials?
April 2, 2012 by
Lately, I’ve been involved with a campaign that could be classified as “down ticket.” It’s not a for the US Senate or for Congress, Governor or the state legislature. It’s not even for attorney general. It’s the Salt Lake County mayor’s race, and it’s “down” the “ticket” from all of those higher profile races, even if it deals with issues near and dear to all of us.
Indeed, it may deal with stuff that we use a lot more frequently than some of those other races. Libraries? Rec centers? Parks? Snow plows? Mental services? Jails? [cont…]
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